Toronto Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista helped his team to its first playoff appearance, win its first AL East title and reach its first ALCS since the 1993 MLB season. His epic bat flip from Game 5 of the ALDS against the Texas Rangers was one of the highlights of 2015.
And it's now going to be a highlight forever.
The Topps Company showed their version of a baseball card with a picture of Bautista's memorable bat flip on Twitter yesterday. Topps also announced the company is selling a poster size image of the historic moment, which is $24.99 on its website.
What do you think of this card? @Ryoni77Ryan @JoeyBats19 pic.twitter.com/msc5EvcXDi
— Topps Company (@toppscards) February 2, 2016
Bautista's bat flip followed his electrifying go ahead three-run home run in the bottom of the seventh inning in Game 5 of the ALDS, which eventually propelled Toronto to the ALCS. However, they fell to the eventual World Series champion Kansas City Royals.
Check out the video of his home run and celebration below:
The veteran dealt with some criticism for the wild celebration, but many backed his behavior since it was such a high-stakes situation during a home game in the Blue Jays' first playoff appearance in over 20 years. It was also Bautista's first postseason appearance of his 12-year MLB career.
"It's the most emotionally charged game that I've ever played," Bautista said that day.
The Blue Jays lost the first two games of the ALDS at home against the Rangers and were just one game away from elimination. But they rallied and won three straight games, including the clincher back in Toronto, which was the scene of Bautista's momentous blast.
So for all of those opposed to Bautista's celebration, the rest of the baseball world would like to apologize because it will now be immortalized on a Topps card. Not only that, it might just be the coolest baseball card ever at this point in history.
